6/24/2007

yesterdays asado

Idocumented my meal yesterday, it was a mini asado, we ate a bunch of chorizos (sausages). This first picture is up on the terrace of the place where I stay. The big brick structure in the back is the parrilla, I think that would be called a parilla, parilla means grill. It is not really that different from grilling out in america, Im no expert on this but heres what I gather, they use a rectanugler rack thing that is elevated about 6 inches off of a stone surface, a lot of times they use wood, this time he just used coals, they also use dried corn, Frederico said that was the best. The asados that I had before this one consisted of the same stuff, some beef, chorizos(sausages), morsillas(blood sausages), and other stuff like chicken, one time they threw in some intestines and kidneys, this one was just chorizos, which are my favorite. Typically around here, the chorizos are eaten with bread, cut it or splitit open and eat it kinda like a hot dog.
The picture of people at the table has everybody in it except hugo the cat. From left to right is Darío, Frederico, Rubén, and Romina. Negro the dog is in my lap trying to get at the table, Rubén is hollding antonia and Romina is doing something with Coca. I live with Rubén and Darío, both very nice people, Frederico and Romina are friends visiting, Darío is an acrobat and instructor at the circus school around here who also does Par kour, Par kour is where you jump around on city streets, advanced Par kour is where you jump around from rooftop to rooftop, and other quite dangerous things. Darío trains a group of people
in Par kour, he is the only Par kour trainer in Rosario so I am going to try and tag along sometime this week and get some pictures and maybe learn some badass jumps, hehe, he doesnt do the crazy rooftop stuff, its all on the ground. Rubén is the director of a museum here in Rosario called El Museo de la Memoria, this museum is focused on sharing with the public information on the last dictatorship here in Argentina. There was a dictatorship here from 1976-1983, it was a real grizzly affair, over 30000 people disappeared, they are referred to as the disaparecidos. It was a rough time people couldnt speak up and if even there was the slightest bad speech against the government, people disappeared or were tortured or both, who knows. Every thursday in Buenos Aires there are a group of mothers who circle the monument in the plaza de mayo. They wear white bandanas on their heads with the name of the person who is missing written on the back. And they have been circling this monument every thursday since la guerra sucia 76-83 because they dont know if their child or family member is alive or dead or where they could possibly be and they want to know. So Rubén directs a museum in Rosario that is focused on informing the public about the dictatorship so that it never happens again. Aside from the museum they do programs at schools and other informative things, its pretty interesting.
But anyways, it was a good meal, Rubén went to Chile for a week for museum conferences and came back with some Chilean wine. In Argentina they have a special kind of wine called the Malbec, most of Argentinas best wine comes from Mendoza. In Chile they have a special kind of wine called a carmenére. He brought back some Carmenére, it was good. I li
ke the Malbecs too. Wine is really cheap around here, you can get a bottle for 4 pesos, which is around 1.33$. I also had this stuff called Fernet, Its like some kind of mix of herbs and I think itrs alcoholic. Darío mixed it with coke, Fernet and coke, It kind of tasted like something you would buy at the Health food store, like those little glass bottles of herbal supplements like ginseng, you know how those things taste like crap? Well its kind of like that but the Fernet can actually be enjoyed with the coke. He said it was an Argentinian thing.
They deliver ice cream here, maybe they do that in the US somewhere, but as I mentioned before Argentina has awesome helado (ice cream) and Rubén ordered Tiramisu ice cream and some guy delivered a tub of it to the house, truly amazing.Then we finished the meal by passing around the matte, we used my matte and Frederico showed me the proper way to prepare it, it seems like everybody has some "perfect" way to prepare it but I think I like the Frederico method, it makes sense. So thats about it really for the meal, just thought I would share that.
Now I want to show you a picture of the bathroom. These pictures are probably all twisted up I never know how they are gonna line up in this thing, so just bear with it. Down here they have bidets but I dont think many people use them, at least the people that I live with dont they just books in theirs, but the bidets seem to be a pretty common thing, and while this isnt any kind amazing insight, the flusher on every toilet I have seen is built into the wall above the toilet, every one, it's the white box on the wall above it. I put a picture of my key to the apt on here too cause its kind of interesting, at least to a first-time-out-of-the-continent-gringo like myself.
Hey if you want to, leave a little comment, all you gotta do is click the comment thing below, Im kinda curious who is looking at this. word.
The next installment will possibly feature Par Kour pictures Im hoping to tag along with Darío this week.

3 comentarios:

Chris Wolfe dijo...

Glad you're having fun. Learning to cook all kinds of int'l food (Ethiopian last week, East Asia this week). Haven't shot with the Canon 1V once since I bought the Leica. Can't wait until you get back, but take your time and soak it all in before you come home. Spending time in
Switzerland in high school did so much for me, and I'm sure Argentina will do the same for you. I'm very happy for you. Keep taking lots of photos. The Force will be with you... always.

Wolfe

Chris Wolfe dijo...

"...With the bloody foot of law INSIDE IT!"

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